Carl Dagher0:00 So in one of my classes, it's a startup lab class, and um I'm making a startup company, and the app idea is a political app where you get information on certain candidates and you're able to donate.0:15 However, when I was researching um donation laws, I discovered that any donation above fifty dollars can't be anonymous, and it must be disclosed to the public, like where the campaign got the money from, who donated it, and even if you go through loopholes and and and donate to PAX, the money, the amount of money, if it was above $50, you must reveal where it originated from.0:44 And that got me wondering, like, should donations be anonymous, um, or could they be anonymous if if requested um for amounts above $50.0:57 I think in a society that's so politically charged these days, some people may be reluctant to donate for a certain campaign because they don't want their information being put out there that they support a certain policy.1:13 Um, but I feel like that's really undemocratic.1:17 And the fact that you kind of have that fear of of voicing your opinion is a problem in and of itself, but um I mean that's just to say a society we live in today.1:27 And I I think a way for people to be able to express like their political beliefs and and have some uh privacy so that they don't get targeted for for what they believe in.1:39 I think we could implement uh a law change to keep donations above fifty dollars anonymous if requested.1:47 Um and I think we'll see a lot more.1:49 I mean, the election cycles it's a big money money grab for for a lot of these campaigners, but I think we'll start to see more people who care about our politics get involved, and and I think it would foster a better democratic democratic society.
Wesley Joyce0:00 I think that's a great point thinking about how it's kind of undemocratic to not be able to anonymously anonymously put your money with what you want to do in a lot of ways.0:13 But I think a lot of the large-scale disclosure that occurs is mainly important for a lot of the big packs.0:24 And you know, I I would understand if donating somebody's presidential campaign if you didn't want to do that, but or if you didn't want your information to be disclosed on those topics.0:36 But you know, when you have some of these packs that are donating tens of millions of dollars to Senate seats, um just to sometimes spite the other um nominee um for some of their views, you know.0:56 I think some of these smaller elections that carry larger impacts, I think those are more important to see where money's coming in because there's no reason why in some Senate races a nominee will only raise two million dollars, but then the other nominee has 16 million dollars.1:13 And so I think it's very important to understand, you know, not necessarily in the large elections, but in the small elections that seem meaningless, why some people get way more than others and to to be able to trace that back and understand what their agenda is and see that I think it's is a is a big advantage of uh donation disclosure.1:39 But I do understand how like say my dad wanted to donate $4,000 to a candidate that um you know maybe people wouldn't be supportive of in our hometown, um, how he wouldn't want his name to be out there, but if you're gonna be throwing millions of dollars behind somebody, um you gotta feel pretty strongly about it, and I feel like the disclosure wouldn't deter you from that.
Gaines Gunn0:00 Carl, I think this is a really interesting topic.0:02 I think that it's interesting your point where you say that people may donate less if you know donations are made public to the general population.0:11 But I will say, in such a polarized um political state at like the United States is, it is important for the people to know exactly who's lobbying our politicians.0:23 And so I think it's really important that the general public is able to access the information of where money is flowing in from, because then it leaves a footprint and a trail to follow when these policymakers might be making policies that go against um, you know, the general public's belief.0:41 I think there have been many examples of where you can trace the money back um and figure out exactly why um you know policies are being uh put into place.0:51 And I'm pretty sure I I read an article um a while back, and it was basically about um, you know, how much money is being um put into these Congress members' pockets and where that's coming from.1:06 And you know, like it's insane to me how, you know, the president's paycheck from the United States of America is 400,000 and a Congress member's paycheck is around like $250,000.1:17 Yet while these people are in office, they go from being, you know, just regular people to being multi-million dollar people.1:25 They like their net worth exponentially grows, even though their income is a reasonable amount.1:32 And so I think it's really important that you're able to track where this money's coming from, who's donating it, especially if it's these large corporations who want something out of these policymakers, um, so that you can actually vote and understand why the policymakers are making the decisions that they're making and whether or not they actually have your interests at heart.
Vansh Patel0:00 Carl, I think you brought up a valid concern that many people may have uh if they're deciding to whether to donate or not to a political party.0:09 And I think there's really two sides of my argument when I thought about this.0:14 Uh on one half, I think it's a beautiful thing to have a country where you're able to vote.0:22 I think democracy is a great thing.0:24 And if democracy is being withheld uh by your donations, so uh let me explain this.0:32 Uh if you are scared to donate because of how your donation will appear in the public eye, I think that's a that's a big problem.0:43 I think nobody should be afraid of their political views and should be able to do so in their own privacy uh if they don't choose to disclose it.0:53 Uh I think donation donations should also be anonymous because I don't think what you choose to do with your money and how it'll affect your political views uh should be open to the world.1:05 And another thing is security.1:07 Obviously, many celebrities uh as they are still citizens, they want to vote.1:14 And if they're being scared to donate to their party of choice who they want to run this country, uh I think that's limiting their rights.1:24 Um being scared of donating to who you want to win as a candidate, but being scared of the potentials that come around that.1:34 I mean, nowadays with social media and how the news is just targeting celebrities and such, I think that's that's really harmful to our democracy.1:44 And I think making having some of these donations above $50 be visible to the public, I think is limiting a lot of the expression that we're gonna see in the upcoming years from uh citizens and how they express their political views.2:01 I know as a country we are definitely becoming more polarized and expressing our values much more, and it's much easier to do now with access to social media.2:12 But I think this is gonna pose some immense safety concerns.2:17 Uh I think it is gonna limit some of the expression people may have because being scared to donate to your candidate because of how the public eye may view you or for safety reasons is just not right.2:32 So yeah, I liked your argument.